“Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?”

— Pliny the Elder , book Natural History

Book XXVIII, sec. 23.
Naturalis Historia

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual?" by Pliny the Elder?

Pliny the Elder 31

Roman military commander and writer 23–79

Sir John Bayley, 1st Baronet (1763–1841) British judge

King v. Woolf (1819), 1 Chit. 423.

“It is interesting that the term mystic is used in this derogatory sense to mean anything we cannot segmentize and count. The odd belief prevails in our culture that a thing or experience is not real if we cannot make it mathematical, and that somehow it must be real if we can reduce it to numbers.”

Rollo May (1909–1994) US psychiatrist

Existence (1956) p. 39; also published in The Discovery of Being : Writings in Existential Psychology (1983), Part III : Contributions to Therapy, Ch. 6 : To Be and Not to Be, p. 94
Existence (1958)
Context: It is interesting that the term mystic is used in this derogatory sense to mean anything we cannot segmentize and count. The odd belief prevails in our culture that a thing or experience is not real if we cannot make it mathematical, and that somehow it must be real if we can reduce it to numbers. But this means making an abstraction out of it … Modern Western man thus finds himself in the strange situation, after reducing something to an abstraction, of having then to persuade himself it is real. … the only experience we let ourselves believe in as real, is that which precisely is not.

“Why is ultimately a question of purpose: Why do we exist? In most organizations, people are not encouraged to keep asking questions.”

Ikujiro Nonaka (1935) Japanese business theorist

"The Practical Wisdom of Ikujiro Nonaka," 2008

“You have to be odd to be number one”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

“Our purpose is to educate as well as to entertain.”

Curtis Mayfield (1942–1999) American singer, songwriter, and record producer

As quoted in The Sociology of Rock (1978) by Simon Frith
Context: Our purpose is to educate as well as to entertain. Painless preaching is as good a term as any for what we do. If you're going to come away from a party singing the lyrics of a song, it is better that you sing of self-pride like 'We're a Winner' instead of 'Do the Boo-ga-loo!

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

First Annual Address, to both Houses of Congress (8 January 1790).
Compare: "Qui desiderat pacem præparet bellum" (translated: "Who would desire peace should be prepared for war"), Vegetius, Rei Militari 3, Prolog.; "In pace, ut sapiens, aptarit idonea bello" (translated: "In peace, as a wise man, he should make suitable preparation for war"), Horace, Book ii. satire ii.
1790s

“My message to you is continue the protests, continue despite the odds, and eventually, together, we will reach that crucial number, 350.”

Mohamed Nasheed (1967) Maldivian politician, 4th president of the Maldives

Speech about the Maldives, Interview with Mohamed Nasheed http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-2-2012/exclusive---mohamed-nasheed-extended-interview-pt--1, April 2, 2012.